ooooIYKYK, ISSUE #0008
We’re now eight issues into this newsletter and platform focusing on Audi, which means eight weeks and effectively two months. In that time, I’ve begun to hit a stride and dial in some weekly features. In addition to timely news and coverage, I’ve begun to roll in regular features recurring weekly while doing my best to link the sources I use in order to more thoroughly keep you in the know. Given ooooIYKYK is now hitting cruising speed, I wanted to reach out to those of you who are regulars to get your input on what I’ve been doing and where this might go.
So, let’s first recap. All of this content is running first and foremost on the ooooIYKYK.com website first and foremost. It’s here you’ll find the most photos and richest layouts. In addition to any relevant news or event coverage that may hit during the week, I’ve begun to roll in some recurring features.
Main Weekly Story – Currently the Mittelmotor Saga Series
Entertaining storytelling is a fundamental focus for this platform. The Mittelmotor Saga, an ongoing weekly series about Audi’s journey into the development of mid-engine cars is now five weeks in and has several weeks still to go that will progress from the secret Group S development of the 1980s to the arrival of the first R8 in the 2000s.
More series will eventually follow and is proving one of the most creatively challenging parts of the feed. By digging into my own archive, acquiring old magazines or foreign language biographies and even tracking down players at the time, I’m finding many unknown facets of familiar Audi legends that have never been told. At times, as was done this week, I’m tapping expertise in AI image generation to storyboard, illustrating stories for which little photography exists.
Finds of the Week
This feature series is a mashup of former series I’ve run on other platforms. I’ve been running special cars for sale run as finds of the day since my old days at Fourtitude.com, while Choice Gear (first the website choicegear.org, then the columns for Audi Club’s print magazine) highlighted cool merch, model cars and automotive parts and accessories brand aficonados would want to know about. In the case of Finds of the Week, there’s fun in choosing a weekly theme be it cars for sale or apparel and then sharing a rich mix of interesting and entertaining offerings.
ooooIntel
While I’m not rolling this one out every week, building out a section following intel on rumored upcoming models is the practice. The plan here is to update these pages with future intel as it happens, meaning a constantly updating resource for those watching an upcoming model. Reporting on and assessing intel from sources including journalists or those in the know, linking spy photos that pop up, etc. is entirely designed to keep you in the know.
Audi Motorsport Update
Covering the spread from F1 down to privateer customer racing, these weekly racing rundowns help keep up to date on teams racing around the world. Audi stopped producing their own customer racing updates, so while time consuming, these reports should prove essential for Audi motorsport fans and help keep those watching the lead-up to F1 to also be aware of goings on.
Event Listings
I try to give a heads up on upcoming events whether that’s the next week’s racing venues in the motorsport update, or next week’s enthusiast activities for the newsletter. In order to streamline this, ooooIYKYK now has lists of events for both MOTORSPORT and SHOWS & GATHERINGS. These are works in progress, so drop me a note if you don’t see an event you feel should be included.
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?
There are so many directions we can go from here and so I’m curious what you’d like to see more of. These might include:
Podcast – While this is already in the cards, I’m curious if you want to hear conversations with interesting people from the Audi space as I’ve done before, more produced news, storytelling features or something else entirely? For instance, a suggestion this week from a founding subscriber was perhaps turning the Mittelmotor series into a series of storytelling podcasts.
Feature Modified Cars – Harking the classic European Car Magazine era or what my friends over at Performance VW still do, are photo shoots of cars and a detailed telling of their story something you want to see in this sort of format? I find print is the best platform for these sorts of features, but with print publications becoming fewer and fewer, maybe it’s time to consider doing more of this.
Car Reviews – It’s a bit premature to expect inclusion on press launches or booking cars for review, but that’s not to say I can’t roll in this sort of content as new models come out. Is this something you’d like to see?
Project Cars – An episodic take on building projects is another way to approach recurring series while highlighting the parts and service suppliers for that niche. Or it’s just a fun way to build a cool car. Whichever way you roll on this, I have a patina ur quattro, a Frankenstein-like V8 quattro swapped ’72 100 Coupé S at my disposal, not to mention an RS 5 Sportback and e-tron in the household garage. Any of these could be made the subject of content generation.
AI Design – Some may already know that I also run @4Rings.AI on Instagram. Early in the AI image generation game, I created the account. As it sits today, the account is just shy of 50,000 fans and continues to reach over 3 Million Audi and design fans a month. I’ve already been integrating work into some stories, but so much more runs on this account that I’m thinking of adding in weekly updates on what’s going on in that space for pure entertainment value.
Read the Website. Spread the Word.
All of the current content and any new additions run real time throughout the week on ooooIYKYK, then are summarized and linked in the weekly newsletter that gets direct emailed to subscribers. If you’re not a subscriber, please consider doing so. If you are a subscriber, please recommend ooooIYKYK to your Audi enthusiast friends. For this title to continue and flourish, it needs to grow and sustain itself either through paid subscriptions or underwriting sponsors and advertisers. In order to achieve this, it needs your support.
So, speak up. Drop me an email and let me know how you’d like to see ooooIYKYK evolve. What sort of content would you like me to focus on? Should I cut the opining and simply send out links to the latest stories as some other news emails do? Should I send out emails more on a daily rotation every time a story runs? Your input will help this site become more of an asset and a fixture in the Audi enthusiast space.
NEXT UP: THIS WEEK’S NEWS & FEATURES
DON’T MISS UPCOMING EVENTS
09-13 – Techno Classica Essen, Essen, Germany 🇩🇪 – Exhibition
10-13 – GT4 European Series, Circuit Paul Ricard, France – GT4
11-13 – F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain – F1
11-13 – GT America, Long Beach Grand Prix, USA 🇺🇸 – GT3
11-13 – GT World Challenge / GT World Challenge Asia, Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia – GT3, GT4, TCR
11-13 – GT World Challenge Europe, Sprint Cup, Brands Hatch, UK – GT3
12-13 – Goodwood Member’s Meeting, Goodwood Estate, UK 🇬🇧 – Vintage Racing
18-20 – F1 STC Saudia Arabian Grand Prix, Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Saudia Arabia – F1
18-20 – FFSA GT Championnat de France, Nogaro Easter Cups, Nogaro, France – GT3, GT4
19 – Concours in the Hills with Audi Club Arizona, Fountain Hills Park, AZ 🇺🇸 – Concours
ALL WEEK – People’s Champ: The Impact of Ken Block at The Petersen Museum, CA – INFO
Know of an Audi-themed event that hasn’t been included? Drop a note in the comments below or via a PM to one of our @ooooIYKYK social channels.
FOUR RINGS PS.
Here’s something extra – a 5120 x 2880 pixel wallpaper of an Audi RS 3 LMS used in this week’s motorsport update layout. Enjoy.
Thanks for checking out ooooIYKYK, the weekly newsletter about Audi and the Audi owner community. If you like what you see, please subscribe, consider a paying subscription in order to make this project viable, and share it with your friends whether they are an Audi owner or would just benefit from a deeper dive into the world of the Audi aficionado.
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1.) Tell your friends.
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